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1 TAKE-AWAY GAMES ALLEN J. SCHWENK California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California L INTRODUCTION Several games of Tf take-away?f have become popular. The purpose of this paper is to determine the winning strategy of a general class of takeaway games, in which the number of markers which maybe removed each turn is a function of the number removed on the preceding turn. By-products of this investigation are a new generalization of Zeckendorfs Theorem [ 3 ], and an affirmative answer to a conjecture of Gaskell and Whinihan [2]. Definitions: (1-1) Let a take-away game be defined as a two-person game in which the players alternately diminish an original stock of markers subject to various restrictions, with the player who removes the last marker being the winner** (1-2) A turn or move shall consist of removing a number of these markers. (1-3) Let the original number of markers in the stock be N(0). (1-4) After the k move there will be N(k) markers remaining. (1-5) The player who takes the first turn shall be called player A. The other player shall be called player B. (1-6) Let T(k) = N(k- 1) - N(k). That is, T(k) is the number of markers removed in the k move. (1-7) The winning strategy sought will always be a forced win for Player A. All games considered in this paper are further restricted by the following rules: (a) T(k) > 1 for all k = 1,2,- 8 '. (b) T(l) < N(0) (Thus, N(0) > 1.) (c) For all k = 2, 3,» ", T(k) < m,, where m, is some function of T ( k - 1). *This definition is essentially taken from Golomb [1]. 225

2 226 TAKE-AWAY GAMES [April Rule (a) guarantees that the game will terminate after a finite number of moves since the number of markers in the stock is strictly decreasing, and hence, must reach zero. Rule (b) dispenses with the uninteresting case of immediate victory. Rule (c) is the source of the distinguishing characteristics of the various games which shall be considered. H. MOTIVATION Example (n-1) A simple game occurs when m, is defined to be constant, m, and we require f (1) m. The well known strategy is: If N(0) ^ 0 mod (m + 1), remove N(0) mod (m + 1) markers. On subsequent moves, Player A selects T(2j + 1) to be equal to m T(2j). If N(0) = Omod (m + 1), Player B can win by applying Player A T s strategy above. A simple way to express this result is to write the integer N(k) in a base m + 1 number system. Thus, N(k) = a 0 + a^m + 1) + a 2 (m + I) a.(m+l) 3, where this representation is unique. Player A f s strategy is to remove a 0 markers, provided a 0 ^ 0. If a 0 = 0, Player A is faced with a losing position. systems. This result suggests a connection between winning strategies and number Example (IE-2) Consider the game defined by the rule m, = T(k - 1), the number of markers removed on the preceding move. In other words, T(k) <T(k - 1). To find a winning strategy, express N(0) as a binary number, e.g., 12 = 1100 B. Define /N(0)/ as follows: If N = ( V n - l ' " a i a o ) B ' in the binary system, then

3 1970] TAKE-AWAY GAMES 227 / N / = a n + a n _ a i + a 0. If /N(0)/ = k > 1,. Player A removes a number corresponding to the last "one" in the binary expansion. (Thus, for N(0) = 12 = 1100, Player A removes 4 = 100.) Now /N(l)/ = k - 1 > 0. Player B now has no move which reduces /N(l)/; to do so, he would have to remove twice as many as the rules permit. In addition, any move Player B does make produces an N(2) such that Player A can again remove the last " 1 " in the expansion of N(2) 8 To see this, note that N(l) can be rewritten as V n - l ' " V ' ) B + 1 B ' Now, since N(k) is strictly decreasing, it must reach zero. However, / 0 / = 0 and / N / > 0 for all positive integers N. Since Player B never decreases /N(k)/, Player B cannot produce zero; hence, Player A must win. If, on the other hand, /N(0)/ = 1, it is clear that Player A cannot win because N(0) = = 11' 1_ Any move by Player A permits Player B to remove the last " 1 " in the expansion* thus applying the strategy formerly used by A above. Again we see a connection with number systems. A generalization of this method now suggests itself: Find a way to express every positive integer as a unique sum of losing positions. Then a losing position has norm 1. For any other position, the norm reducing strategy described above will work if, given Player A T s move, (i) Player B cannot reduce /N(k)/, and (ii) any move Player B does make permits Player A to reduce /N(k+1)/. m. THE GENERAL GAME Now consider any game in which m, is a function of the number of markers removed on the preceding move; i. e., let m = f(t(k - 1)). Suppose f(n) ^ n and f(n) ^ f(n - 1) for all positive integers, n. Note that example II-2 satisfied this hypothesis. We want f to be a monotonic nondecreasing

4 228 TAKE-AWAY GAMES [April function so that if Player B removes more markers he cannot limit Player A to removing fewer markers and thus foil the norm reducing strategy. In addition, we want f(n) ^ n to guarantee the existence of a legal move at all times, and to permit the following definition: Definition (ni-1) Define a sequence (H.) by: Hj = 1 and H. + 1 = H. + H. where j is the smallest index such that f(h.) H,. Clearly this is well defined because if the above inequality holds for no smaller j, at least we know it holds for j = k. Theorem (3II-2) Every positive integer can be represented as a unique sum of H. f s, such that n N = ^2 H. and f(h. ) < H. for i = 1, 2,,n ~ 1.. = 1 +l The theorem is trivially true when N = 1, for Hi = 1 Assume that the theorem holds for all N < H, ; and let H, ^ N < H, -. By induction, n N = Hk + E H J. x i=l where f(h. ) < H. for i = 1,2,*,n - 1. Thus, for the existence of a +l representation, we need only show that f(h. ) < H,. Suppose f(h. ) H,. Then recall that H, H = H, + H^ B.g where 4 is the minimal coefficient for which f (Hg ^ H,. Hence j ^ i and so H k + i = H k + H - H k + H J n - N contradicting the choice of N. Thus we have existence.

10 234 TAKE-AWAY GAMES [April or c H j+l < H j+k+2 * ch j+2 ' SO H j + k + 3 = H j + k H j + 2- Q - E - D - This theorem tells us that k has reached the recursion value when k has been the difference for k + 2 successive indices. V. CONCLUSION We have discovered some interesting properties of take-away games and their winning strategies. The subject, however, is by no means exhausted. For example, in Theorem (IV-4) we showed that for every _c > 1 there exists a k such that.... By inspection, I have found: If c = 1 then k = 0 = 2 = 1 = 3 = 3 = 4 = 5 = 5 = 7 = 6 = 9 = 7 = 12 = 8 = 1 4 It is not clear whether or not a simple relation exists between c and k. In Section IV, we found that f(x) = ex gives rise to a recursion relation for (H.). Other special cases of f can be studied, to learn about the corresponding sequence (H.); or one might try to reverse the approach by proceeding from (H.) to f, as opposed to the approach taken in this paper. It is also possible to generalize in other ways. For example, if f(n) and g(n) satisfy the hypotheses of Section EI, then (f+ g)(n) = f(n) + g(n) and (fg)(n) = f(n)g(n) also satisfy the hypotheses. Can the corresponding strategies and sequences be related? Can the procedure be generalized for functions which are not monotonic? These problems are suggested for those interested in pursuing the subject further. [Continued on page 241. ]

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